NAMI Veterans Resource Center - a resource page tailored to
veterans, it provides information on military-related mental
health issues such as PTSD, suicide, women's issues, and unique
issues faced by culturally diverse populations within the military
(African-American, Latino, Asian, and American Indian).

National Center for PTSD -
Many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have untreated
and/or undiagnosed PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the
Veterans Administration has developed this website with
information for both patients and their treatment teams.

Mental Health Services for Veterans - The Veterans Administration has a 24/7 toll-free hotline that gives any veteran immediate mental health care assistance, and if they are at risk of homlessness, they can connect them with A Homeless Program Coordinator at the nearest VA medical center

What
is Mental Illness?

Mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders. These
disorders can severely disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, moods,
ability to relate to others and capacity for coping with the demands
of life.

Mental illnesses are treatable brain disorders - they are not a
judgment.

Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion, or
income. Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack
of character, or poor upbringing. They cannot be overcome through
"will power" and are not related to a person's "character" or
intelligence.

When
Someone You Love Has a Mental Illness by Rebecca Woolis - an
easy reading "how to" book written for people with seriously ill
relatives. Provides many useful tips on managing family life while
caring for an ill relative - in particular it has good chapters on
how to talk with your relative; how to handle holiday & family
activities; and dealing with doctors and hospitals.

General Information on Medications for Controlling Symptoms of
Mental Illness

The Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs - Jack M. Gorman - The
"Meds" are important tools for controlling the symptoms of mental
illness, and this book gives an easy-reading overview of the major
drug classes, as well as their side-effects. Note that this book
was last updated in 1995, so it does not cover recently introduced
medications.

Mental Health Medications - This free National Institute of
Mental Health guide describes the types of medications used to treat
mental disorders, side effects of medications, directions for taking
medications, and includes any FDA warnings.

Detailed nformation on Medications for Controlling Symptoms of
Mental Illness

Generic vs. Newer (expensive) Antipsychotics - the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded a study called CATIE
(Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness). This
study compared the effectiveness and side effects of five
antipsychotics used to treat people with schizophrenia.

In general, the study found that the older medication perphenazine
worked as well as the newer, atypical medications. But because
people respond differently to different medications, it is important
that doctors carefully design treatments for your loved one.

Psychiatric
Care in Ithaca, NY and Nearby Cities

Ithaca is a small town with a limited number of psychiatrists and
psychiatric care facilities (which we list below). If you can't find
the help you need locally, then consider contacting other NAMI
chapters about doctors and facilities in their areas.

Note that some places do not have facilities for keeping mentally ill
patients for long periods of time. (Sometimes it can take weeks or
months before doctors can find a medicine to alleviate a patient's
symptoms).

As you browse these links, you'll see words such as "Outpatient",
"Acute care", and "Long-term care", and "Forensic". We list their
definitions below:

Outpatient - psychiatric patients can visit for diagnosis or
treatment, but there are no facilities to stay overnight.

Acute care - patients can stay at the hospital for short
periods - days to perhaps a few weeks.

Long-term care - patients stay for long periods of time (weeks
to months or longer).

Forensic - facilities that care for inmates of the New York State
prison system.

Ithaca, NY - the home of NAMI-Finger Lakes, and its mental health
resources includes:

Tompkins
County Mental Health Services - TCMHS provides outpatient
services and medications to county residents who do not have
health insurance (call their phone # and ask to speak with the
intake counselor). Note that they have a dual-diagnosis counselor
on their staff (Mr. Shayne Jayne)

One the services they provide is a residential apartment program
for people recovering from mental illness. This program is
contracted through Lakeview
Mental Health Services, with facilities in Ithaca NY and other
local communities.

The Mental Health Association in
Tompkins County - is
an advocacy organization whose mission is to develop and support
the active involvement of ordinary people (including providers,
family members and recipients of mental health services) in all
aspects of mental health.

They are an excellent source of information on local mental health
care options (they have a list of psychiatrists practicing in
town), and they know the intricacies of Medicare, Medicaid, and
Social Security Disability and Social Security Income. They also
provide respite services, and they also operate SPACE
- (Starlight Peer Advocacy Center for Empowerment) - a drop in
center for mental health consumers.

They sponsor scheduled talks and programs, and they invite anyone
(student or not) to participate. They also run a Cornell
Minds Matter Facebook Page and a Listserver (see the details
on their web page

Cornell University Office of Human Resources Employee Assistance
Program. The service is free and open to Cornell employees and
retirees. Phone 607-255-1531 or 254-4961 to make an appointment.
One of their counselors is Jim Morris, MSW, LCSW, Clinician and
Workplace Consultant.

Auburn, NY - Auburn is 45 minutes north of Ithaca. Its resources
include:

Greater
Binghamton Health Center (formerly known as the Binghamton
Psychiatric Center). Seriously ill people from Tompkins County
are often sent here because it is the area's long-term care
facility (sometimes it can take weeks or months before doctors can
alleviate a patient's symptoms). By comparison, Ithaca's Cayuga
Medical Center has an acute-care Behavioral Health Services
Department that can only do short-term stays.

Buffalo, NY - Buffalo is three hours west of Ithaca, and its
resources include:

Baker
Victory Services - A family-oriented facility for at-risk
teens with mental illness. Services include an RTF ( Residential
Treatment Facility) for at-risk teens with mental illness. One of
our members - who had a child stay at Baker Victory - has been
extremely pleased, and says that you can't find a better
family-oriented RTF.

Pathways, Inc. -
Pathways provides wrap-around services for children & teens who
are at risk of institutionalization due to mental illness. Families
work closely with an Intensive Case Manager.

Corning, NY - Corning is 45 minutes east of Ithaca, and its
resources include:

Elmira
Psychiatric Center - a New York State long-term care
facility that treats adult and children. Their facility includes
an 60-bed adult unit, an18-bed pediatric inpatient facility , and
a 20-bed geriatric unit. The Elmira Psychiatric Center is a
satellite facility to the Greater Binghamton Health Center.

Rochester, NY - Rochester is a city two hours northwest of
Ithaca, and its resources include:

Paying for Health Care in Tompkins County

Many families do not have the financial resources to pay for their
ill relative's psychiatric treatment. It is also very common these
individuals to have additional health problems unrelated to their
mental illness.

Mental illness can devastate a young person's confidence and
self-esteem. This can prevent them from pursuing a normal life
progression such as school, professions, and family.

Farm-based treatment programs combine health care & structured
work to rebuild that confidence and teach them to manage their
illnesses. The article "Farming
For Health and Well Being" gives a nice overview of why it
works.

Here are some organizations that follow that philosophy:

Eastern US

Gould Farm
- an excellent farm-based recovery/rehabilitation program located
in Massachusetts. Focuses on adults 18 & older. Several
support group members have sent ill relatives there with excellent
results (very friendly, professional, and supportive).

Cooper-Riis - a
"spinoff" from Gould Farm located in western North Carolina.

Hopewell Inn - a therapeutic
farm community located in
Mesopotamia, Ohio, (just east of Cleveland). Same treatment
model as Gould Farm.

Compos Mentis - Working Towards Wellness - was an Ithaca-area
program that started as a day program in May, 2007 and that closed
at the end of 2010. Housed at the Cayuga Nature Center farm, it was
inspired by the Gould Farm model, and was co-founded by NAMI-Finger
Lakes member Abby Eller.

Casas de Vida Nueva -
Located in Albuquerque, NM. Started by a mother whose son
attended Gould Farm, and it follows the Gould/Cooper-Riis models.
Employs a permaculture philosophy in its farming practices. They
are currently working to start up their program.

We'd also suggest checking the American
Residential Treatment Organization - an organization that
promote and enhance residential mental health treatment. Their
membership directory points to facilities all over the United States -
some are farm-based, some are not.

Finally, there are some New York-based organizations that could help
families dealing with eating disorders and mental illness in older
adults:

Ophelia's Place -
Syracuse-based Ophelia's Place is a resource and support center
for those suffering from an eating disorder. It was started by a
mother who nearly lost two daughters to anorexia, and it provides
information on treatment, insurance, education, prevention and
support groups for those with eating disorders, and also for their
family and friends.

Sharon Hospital
Behavioral Health Center -a special center focused on
elderly patients,. They can do testing to determine whether
problems are due to mental illness or to other causes such as
Alzheimer's and/or dementia.

Psychiatry
Practice Guidelines - various US organizations have
developed practice guidelines for different mental illnesses.
These free downloadable documents could be useful discussion
points with your loved one's psychiatrist.

In this list you will find references to the Texas
Medical Algorithm Project which produced guidelines
for schizophrenia, Major Depression, and Bipolar Disorders.
However, you should also be aware that there is controversy over
these treatment guidelines. Specifically, this Mother Jones
magazine article "Medicating
Aliah" claims that large pharmaceutical companies were
overly involved in formulating the guidelines, and that the
treatment recommendations are biased towards newer (and more
expensive) medications, rather than low-cost generic drugs.

Ratings for New York
State Hospitals New York State rates hospitals for quality
of certain medical procedures. Of particular interest are their
statistics on alcohol and drug detoxification programs, since many
mentally ill people are "dual-diagnosis" - both mentally ill and
addicted to alcohol or narcotics.

The site's other very useful feature is that it allegedly has the
names of all doctors of medicine and osteopathy in New York
State. You can search by name, specialty, and county/city, and
see if a particular physician has any malpractice suites or other
legal problems.

Ratings for
National Hospitals - the federal government Hospital
Compare site lets you look up a hospital's treatment success
statistics, and also lists patient survey results. While the
data focuses on "physical" ailments as heart attack, diabetes,
and heart operations, it is still relevant because people
diagnosed with major mental illnesses are at a higher risk for all
medical ailments. In addition, the patient surveys could give you
an idea of the general hospital management, which would could
affect care in psychiatric care units.

Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality - Provides links to more
than 200 examples of Report cards on hospitals, health plans,
doctors, and other health providers. Searchable by state, type of
report, or report card sponsor.

Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Service - Compares hospitals based
on surveys of patient experiences. Comparisons include procedure
volumes, death & readmission rates, and how often hospitals
provide care known to get good results. This survey doesn't
include facilities run by the Military & Veterans Health
Administration.

Commonwealth Fund -
Free performance data on hospitals nationwide from a private
foundation. Users can search for hospitals by state, county,
ownership, size, or hospital type. The site incoporates
Medicare's patient survey and hospital quality measures. You can
compare a hospital's quality scores against national/state
benchmarks.

Consumer Reports
- (requires a subscription) - the Consumer Reports website now
has a Patient Ratings section, which compares hospitals based on
overall satisfaction as well as specific features from the
Medicare surveys.

The Joint Commission -
This site is sponsored by a nonprofit group that inspects and
accredits most U.S. hospitals at least every three years. Allows
comparisons between hospitals.

Leapfrog Group - This
nonprofit employer-advocacy group rates hospitals on overall
patient safety and the safety of selected procedures. The data
comes from an annual survey of 1,276 general acute-care hospitals
that comprise 53% of the hospital beds in 37 major US metropolitan
areas. You can compare safety practices that affect most hospital
patients - such as computerized medication ordering - and safety
practices associated with high-risk procedures - such as heart
bypass surgery, angioplasty, high risk delivery, etc.

US News & World Report -
Free online rankings of medical centers in 16 specialties. The
site also ranks children's hospitals in 10 specialties.

Major
mental illness can cause other health problems

On average, people with major mental illnesses live 25 years less
than the general population - and the major health risk is NOT
suicide. The major risks are diabetes complications; dardiac,
respiratory, and infectious diseases; and
an increased cancer risk.

However, simple lifestyle changes can prevent these problems, and Our
Increasing The Life Span page contains "how to" information
provided by the New York State Office of Mental Health.

Mental Health Services for Homeless Veterans (US Department of Veterans Affairs) - he Veterans Administration has a 24/7 toll-free hotline that gives any veteran immediate mental health care assistance, and if they are at risk of homlessness, they can connect them with A Homeless Program Coordinator at the nearest VA medical center

An estimated 29% of the mentally ill abuse either alcohol or
drugs. To recover fully, the person needs treatment for both
problems. The best approach is to treat both problems
simultaneously, which requires teamwork between the addiction
counselors and the psychiatrists.

The following links could help if your ill relative is
dual-diagnosis. Also note that Tompkins County Mental Services has
a dual diagnosis counselor on staff (Mr. Shayne Jayne).

Dual Diagnosis
Toolkit - this easy-reading British manual was written for
people working with adult dual-diagnosis clients. Lots of good
information - especially about the practical difficulties in
treating dual-diagnosis patients. And it is also a bit sad - even
with National Health Care, many British dual-diagnosis clients
fall between the cracks - just as they do in the United States.

Mental
Illness and The Criminal Justice System

Estimates show that 10 to 15 percent of jail and prison inmates
have a serious and persistent mental illness. In New York State
that translates into between 10,000 and 15,000 persons. Many of
these people are in jail for minor violations, and should be
treated through the mental health system, rather than sent to
prison.

The following links could help if your ill family member is
arrested:

NAMI
New York State Criminal Justice Advocacy Training Program
- provides direct assistance to families when a family member
with mental illness encounters the criminal justice system.
Consultation, supportive assistance and direct intervention
services are provided when a family member is arrested, faces
court action or is incarcerated in a state or local
correctional facility.

Survey
of Mental Health Courts- web site that gathers
information on mental health courts throughout the
country. There aren't many Mental Health Courts in New
York State, but there is growing interest in this idea
(for example, Syracuse, NY is working towards a Mental
Health Court).

Navigating
the Mental Health Maze: A Guide for Court Practitioners -
this well-written guide is intended for court officials dealing
with defendants with mental illnesses. If your loved one is in
a court system that has little knowledge or empathy for those
with mental illnesses, this could help you educate the lawyers,
judges, and parole officers involved with your relatives case.

NY
State and National NAMI Organizations

NAMI New York State
- the New York State NAMI is very active & supportive of the
local NAMI chapters. Their web site contains lots of good New
York-specific information. Of particular note are:

Navigating
the Mental Health Care System - excellent overview of
issues that families will face in dealing with their
relative's illness. Note that this was originally written
in 2001, so the contact information may be out of date.

"Helping Families to Help their Loved Ones" - a policy paper
that discusses the many reasons why families should be closely
involved in mental health care treatment.

PACT
- Program
for Assertive Community Treatment - an excellent
and cost-effective program for helping people keep themselves
healthy. PACT Teams and can visit your loved one at home to
assist them in heading off relapses and helping them address
related health problems.

Estate
Planning - What Happens To My Relative After I'm Gone?

Issues discussed include administration (who handle the
estate); issues your family must address (goals for your
loved one); information gathering; and an overview of
trusts.

Of particular interest are Special Needs Trusts. These
trusts let you leave money to your ill relative without
endangering their eligibility for government benefits. It
also gives you a mechanism for "metering" money to relatives
who, due to their illness, cannot responsibly handle large
sums of money.

Using
the Web to Research Mental Illness Treatments and Medication

When standard treatments are not working for your loved one -
or the doctors are not providing the information you need - then
you must search for answers on the web.

Searching
Medical and Scientific Literature Websites

MedLine Plus -
a government directory to health information - good way to
get pointers to useful and relevant web pages throughout the
world. This includes on-line dictionaries of medical terms
and medications.

PubMed lets you search the abstracts of all major
medical or biomedical scientific journals. It is a fast way
to scan the latest research. Some of the cited papers are
available for free online (though some charge for
reprints). A cheaper alternative is to contact Cornell's
libraries to see if they carry the cited journal in print or
as an electronic journal (which lets you xerox it or
download it to your USB drive).

Organizations
Developing New Treatments & Medications:

NARSAD National
Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective
Disorders) supports scientific research to find better
treatments and ultimately prevent severe mental illnesses.
The supported research covers all areas of mental illness -
not just schizophrenia and bipolar/depression.

The Stanley
Medical Research Institute - a research organization
focused on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Approximately seventy-five percent of their expenditures
go towards the development of new treatments for
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The remaining funds are
earmarked for research on the causes of these illnesses.
Their web sites describes the ongoing research, and it also
has a very good Links to over web sites dealing with
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The
National Institute of Mental Health- The National
Institute of Mental Health is the major federal funding
agency for research on mental illness. Their web site has a
lot of information on all mental illnesses, as well as
pointers to the researchers they are funding. They also
have active internal research programs that need clinical
trial volunteers.

Web
Sites for Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder is a relatively new mental
illness classification, and there is much ongoing research to
develop both reliable diagnostic methods and effective
treatments. These links list organizations and web pages
devoted to BPD research and treatment.

Borderline
Personality Disorder Resource Center (a New
York-Presbyterian Hospital web site). This site provides
basic information on Borderline Personality Disorder plus
pointers the treatment programs at the hospital's
Personality Disorders Institute. They also list a 48-minute
documentary film on BPD (available for $20 through their web
site).

TARA
APD - The Treatment and Research Advancements
Association for Personality Disorder, TARA APD, is a 501 C3
not-for-profit organization whose mission is to foster
education and research in the field of personality disorder,
specifically but not exclusively Borderline Personality
Disorder (BPD), Their web site provides pointers to ongoing
BPD research projects and support resources.